This is a charity which has been helping people with cerebral palsy since the 1960s. Over the years it has focused increasingly on children, and it now has provides not only therapeutic help but also education from birth to age 14. As a school it covers key stages 1 and 2. It is the only school in London which provides therapy and "conductive education" which is described on the Centre's website.

As a locally based charity (though its reach goes far beyond Haringey) we can take particular pride in the fact that this centre of excellence is part of our community.

Recently, the Centre has acquired new premises in Coppetts Road, Muswell Hill, where it will be able not only to improve its services to its present users, but also to diversify and expand. Plans include doubling the number of children whom they help with early interventions and offering conductive education to adults who can benefit from it, for example people with multiple sclerosis and Parkinsons disease.

This will be my second marathon for them, and my training is well underway. I managed about 12 miles yesterday, and this morning, I played follow the leader in our local park, with one of my children on heelies and the other on a scooter. My 9-year-old announced that she's in charge of my training, and chivvied me along when my pace slackened.

So you can see from this just how important it is to me that children with CP and their families should get as much help as they can to get moments of joy which are as close to this as possible.

I'm paying the entire cost of the Centre's place in the marathon myself up-front; so everything you give will be clear profit for them.